PPE: Past and Future    at UNC | Duke
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[ Minor in Philosophy, Politics and Economics ]
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Program Requirements:

The program will initially have space in the Gateway course  for fifteen students from each university.  Students will normally declare the minor in the spring semester of their sophomore year, and they may do so by enrolling in the Gateway course.  Fifteen additional spaces from each campus will be available each year subsequent year, resulting after three years in approximately 90 students.

The requirements of the minor include the Gateway (Phil 384, Econ 384, Poli 384) and the Capstone course (Phil 698, Econ 698, Poli 698) plus three additional courses, one from each of the three Department-specific lists below (except when one is majoring in one of those fields, in which case the expectation is that the three will be taken from the other two departments).  These are courses regularly taught by each of the participating departments that are related to the subject of the minor.  Two of the five courses may also count as credit toward the major in each of the three participating departments, subject to the approval of the department granting that major.
The Gateway course will be an introduction to subjects and quantitative techniques used to analyze problems in philosophy, political science, and economics.  For example, students will be introduced to problems like the prisoners’ dilemma and will learn some fundamental techniques of logic, decision theory, and game theory in the course of analyzing such problems.  The Gateway course will meet twice each week and over the course of the semester will meet half the time at each university.

The Capstone course, normally the last course taken as a requirement for the minor, will focus on more theoretical and philosophical issues, such as an analysis of rights or distributive justice and the institutional implications of moral norms.

Courses Offered

PHIL 384 (Econ 384, Poli 384) (3) Introduction to PPE.  (Permission of Director, Associate Director, or Director of Undergraduate Studies in Philosophy required.  Recommended: Econ 101 and Phil 170 or Poli 276) This interdisciplinary gateway course provides an introduction to subjects and quantitative techniques used to analyze problems in philosophy, political science, and economics.  This course connects the material covered PHIL 170 (Social and Ethics and Political Thought), POLI 276 (Major Issues in Political Theory) and ECON 101. It will integrate and examine the relationship between philosophical and political theories of the state and economic distribution.

PHIL 698 (Econ 698, Poli 698) (3) PPE Capstone   This course expands  PHIL 384 (Intro to PPE). It will integrate examine in depth the relationship between theories of the state and economic distribution.  The course is designed as an advanced and capstone course for the proposed Philosophy, Politics and Econmics program.

Three from the courses listed below, one from each discipline. The Executive Committee, working with each department’s DUS, will determine prerequisites for these courses.
 
Philosophy Economics Political Science
160: Introduction to Ethics 267:  Comparative Economic Systems 201:  Politics of Bureaucracy
273: Social and Economic 
Justice
234: History of Economic Doctrines 200:  President, Congress & Public Policy
364: Ethics and Economics 460: International Economics 432: Tolerance in 
Liberal States
370: Political Philosophy 454: Economics of Population 442:  Interntional Political Economy
470: Political Philosophy: 
Hobbes to Rousseau
511: Game Theory in 
Economics
472:  Probs of Modern Democratic Theory

Director:  Geoffrey Brennan who, beginning in Spring 2005, has a joint appointment on the faculties of Duke and UNC Chapel Hill.  Dr. Brennan was trained as an economist and has published widely in areas of economics, social choice, and political theory, and philosophy.  He is responsible for the Gateway and Capstone courses, and will teach other seminars as well.

Associate Directors: Geoff Sayre-McCord (Philosophy, UNC) and Alex Rosenberg (Philosophy, Duke).

For more information and for registering for the Gateway and Capstone courses, see:
John Roberts, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Philosophy, Caldwell 102B.  Phone: (919) 962-3317.

Email: jtrosap@email.unc.edu